Anthem of the Angels
by Alvarie Army
Summary: Pitch is back and he stumbles upon a girl who was risen from the grave... literally. Her hatred for the Guardians may lead her to doing something Pitch was never strong enough to do: eliminate the Guardians once and for all.
1. Chapter 1

**1. I do not own Rise of the Guardians**

**2. I am aware that all of my stories have been for ROTG**

**3. I do not care that all of my stories have been for ROTG**

**4. In order for you, my beloved reader, to understand my inspiration for the first paragraph, you must listen to Anthem of the Angels by Breaking Benjamin**

**5. Just read the story already and ignore whatever else I have to say until the end of this chapter**

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I could barely register the hands touching my eye. Everything seemed to be so far off, so distant, so cold. Nothing was making it through except for the smell of medicines and chemicals. Little light was visible through the blood, warm against the coolness of my skin. "_This is wrong,"_ I thought loosely. My thoughts were all jumbled together. "_It shouldn't end like this. He should have been here with me."_ Then I blacked out... forever.

* * *

Cool air rushed into my lungs, thick and hard to suck in. Yet, it felt oddly satisfying, having any air in me. Every last fiber of my body felt limp, cold, almost dead. You know that weird tingly feeling you get when your leg falls asleep and its waking up again? Yeah, you all know that feeling. Well, take that times fifty two and put it all over your body. That is how I felt right then with every breath I sucked in through my annoyingly dry lips.

My right eye opened and realized that it was pointless. There wasn't any light or anything. I reached my hand forward and hit something before I'd even extended my arm. It was soft, sorta. Then I realized that I was lying down. My mind was still waking up, but I knew that whatever I was in, I wanted to get out.

"Okay, you just gotta push. Yeah, that's right." So, that's what I did. But it didn't work. All pushing did was hurt my muscles and back. And that was when things got really bad. Why? Cause that was when I realized that it smelled like cow dung in there. I gagged, hitting my head on the thing. "Pushing not working, try clawing."

What seemed like hours, and I think it probably was, later, I finally reached the surface. The open, fresh air rushed into me, replacing the old air that could peel paint... off a locker... in a gym... on the hottest, sweatiest, smelliest, most disgusting day of the whole year and perhaps of Earth's very existence. Hey, I can be quite dramatic.

By that point, my head had cleared and my body felt relatively normal. I looked around and saw graves. One was blank, no name or epitaph. However, it was right next to the giant hole I'd just dug up, so I assumed it was mine. Oh yeah, definitely mine. How do I know this? There was a bloody bullet right on top of the grave. The bullet that killed me, thank you very much.

A chill ran down my spine and I allowed myself to shiver. Hey, I just dug my way through six feet of dirt! Cut me some slack, alright? Sheesh, people are so judgemental these days. "Why aren't you scared, young one? You just dug yourself out of your grave."

Stranger danger? Nope, not here. No stranger, just some creep who watched me dig myself out. So, no stranger means no danger! Yay, fun! "I should still be buried. I hate them!" I screamed the last part, knowing that most people could not hear a word I said.

"Who is it you hate, sweetie?" the eerie voice asked.

"The Guardians. Bunny in particular. Everything, _everything_, is his fault. I hate him!" I just couldn't hold in all my pain, suffering, whatever else I happened to be feeling that day in. It was too hard on my heart, which was suffering enough as it was.

The grass next to my rustled as the man sat down, slow and deliberate. His feet dangled next to mine in the open grave. I noticed a pale grey hand next to my pale, normal colored hand. A small flame flicked from fingertips but quickly extinguished itself. I wondered what I had become, if I was an already well known legend or just some newbie who would need help getting street cred. Personally, I believed it was the latter.

"Why do you have issues with Bunnymund more than the others? I don't particularly blame you for hating any of them, but why Bunny?"

I clutched at the grass, feeling it heat up slightly at my touch. My fingers relaxed and the grass cooled down again. "Let's just say that I have my reasons. Now, if you must sit here, please sit across from me."

While shifted positions, the tall man asked me why I told him to move. At first, I considered making up some stupid lie and hoping he'd believe it. However, I was never stupid enough to do that. So, I asked him a question. "What is today's date?"

"June 13, 2013. Why do you need to know?"

"Because, exactly three days ago, I was murdered. Shot in my left eye, leaving me as a half blind whatever the heck I am. Happy now?" I asked, spite rising in my tone. See, still to this day, whatever day it is, any mention of my death makes me want to punch someone's teeth out. But back to my story... where was I? Wait! I remember now. "You know, they could have given me something."

The man's greyish-yellow eyes squinted in confusion. My soul did a little victory dance, but I remained motionless. This was just too much fun. "They didn't bother to give me an epitaph or anything. Jerks. What? I'm not good enough for that, just cause I ran away when I was twelve?" I stood up and stuck my hands in the pockets of my black cargo pants. "Later, Pitch."

I could feel the shock Pitch Black felt at y casual mention of his name. However, I didn't bother turning around to see how hilarious his face was. I could just tell it would have made me break into tears from laughter.

Once I was a safe distance away, I spread my wings and flew someplace I knew the Guardians wouldn't dare look.

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**Hi again! No more number list thingies... for now. I can't continue one of my stories (Disappearing Act for those of you who are curious) because nobody is entering the contest I have there. Which led me to thinking of new ideas while I wait. Then POOF! This story popped into my head. So the girl, still unnamed, although ****_I_**** know her name, is blind in her left eye for those of you who didn't get it. Wow, I really need some sleep. Kay, BYEEEE!**


	2. Chapter 2

Hot sunlight poured onto me, not causing any discomfort. Even with black cargo pants, a black tank top, and a Bongo colored denim vest (pale yellow for those of you who care enough), the heat wasn't annoying. More like an old friend or something like that.

"Whoa, hot stuff," some random boy said, staring at me openly. I tilted my head back and let the sun shine on my face. "There's some nice bikinis in the shop over there."

Only when he said that did I realize how close he was. Lucky for me, I had pulled in my wings right before I landed in the ocean about 100 yards out. Man, that was a long swim and I was still soaked through.

I pushed my sunglasses down slightly, letting him see my grotesque (I didn't know what it looked like back then! I'm sorry!) eye. "First off, don't call me 'hot stuff' unless you want third degree burns. Second, get away from me and tell all your little friends to stay away. I came here to be alone, and alone I will be." Didn't I mention how dramatic I can be? So, I wasn't kidding about giving that poor kid third degree burns. However, I only managed first degree because he jumped into the ocean. Then the salt got into some of his wounds and... you're all smart people.

Seeing as I'd already blown my cover, I extended my wings, which were black as night with sparkles lining each individual feather. It kinda looked like crushed up diamonds, but that could just be me. I bent my knees, and when I jumped, I pushed my wings against the wind. After a few strong flaps, I was steadily flying, drifting on whatever air currents came my way. Yes, I feel bad about what I did, but unless anybody knows Father Time, I can't change it. And if I did change, the story wouldn't be as much fun. I think I had some major anger management issues...

My shadow was large on the surface of the ocean and a cold, and I mean _cold_, breeze blew against my neck. Using basic maneuvers (I had wings all my life), I flipped so I was facing up. A flash of blue caught my eye and fire formed around my hands. Knowing I would probably knock the boy into the deep ocean, I turned back around so I was facing the water. I also knew that I would not feel better until I blasted something with fire, so I pulled my arms back and released the fire in the general placement of the ocean. And the only question remaining is... How did I miss?!

"Ah!" the boy shouted, taking a dive towards the water. Feeling guilty at my weirdness, I flew over and caught him just before he crashed into the water. "What was that for?" he demanded.

I rolled my eyes, thinking of a witty comeback. "You should just be glad I didn't let you drop, Snowcone!" And then I released him, deciding that he could fly on his own now. "And you can tell the others to leave me alone. Unless they want to end up where I was."

"Where were you?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"You don't want to know," I replied softly, tears burning the back of my throat and my eyes. I wiped them away from my left eye as quickly as possible, since they burned the bloodied scars. Eventually it would heal up, but until then, crying would cause insane amount of pain.

My wings carried me back to the cemetery, which I still didn't know the name of. And who cares? It's not that big of a deal, is it? Anyways, since I wanted something on my grave, and nobody was going to put it there for me, I decided to write something myself. Of course, it wasn't as heartfelt as it probably should have been, but I had limited room.

_Here lies Hope B._

_Abandoned, unloved, hopeless_

Irony is a funny thing, isn't it. My name is Hope, but I am hopeless. Back then, I wondered if anybody would be able to figure out the secret in my message. Cause I didn't say I _was_ hopeless. I said I _am_ hopeless. But then again, there are a bunch of wackadoodles who can't put two and two together for the life of them. I also noticed that someone had refilled my grave. "_Who would have done that without calling the cops? Nobody saw me get out except... Oh,"_ I thought, deciding that I had to find Pitch Black.

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**Wow, I made her sound really depressing. "Abandoned, unloved, hopeless" And if any of you can figure out how she missed the OCEAN, please feel free to elaborate, cause I've got nothing. Okay, maybe I have ****_something_****, but I'm not telling you people what it is. The first person to think of something good gets a digital cookie! Kay, BYEEEE!**


	3. Chapter 3

If any of you were wondering how to find the Boogeyman, it's actually quite easy. Just wait around in a really dark alley and be afraid of _everything_. And by everything, I include rats, shadows, random sounds, people, etc. What? It worked for me.

"I was not expecting to see you again," Pitch said, sounding relatively calm. He stared at my eyes, probably just my left eye. See, I learned how disgusting it looked while I was waiting for night to come. Even dead people brought back from the grave have to use the restroom, in case you were wondering. "You're looking well."

I rolled my eyes as best I could. "Can it, Black. Why did you refill my grave?"

Pitch snickered a little. It was a sound that could make ghosts die in terror. And yes, I am aware that ghosts are already dead. That's just how scary his snicker was. "Would you have wanted a person to see it open?"

Good point. If someone had seen it, they would've called the cops. Then some poor person would have been arrested for stealing my body, which was worthless for the most part. That poor person would have rotted in a cell for being a grave robber and it would have been my fault. Or the fault of whatever brought me back. Whatever! You all get the idea.

"No? I didn't think so."

Flames flickered at my fingertips again. "Just because I hate the Guardians, doesn't mean I want to let some random human rot in jail. I'm not evil, such as somebody else in this alley." I paused. "Speaking of which, can we go to your place? Bad memories."

The tall man nodded and led me the way. Was I stupid enough to follow him? Yes, I was. Even if he tried to hurt me, I don't think he could have withstood flames. Painful, searing, skin-burning flames. Yup, that's me... Flame Girl. Okay, you know what, Flame Girl sounds totally lame. I think I'll stick with Hope.

"This is where I live. Make yourself comfortable, Miss..." Pitch let the sentence hang, obviously waiting for me to tell him my name.

"Hope. Last name's unimportant as far as I'm concerned." I reached up to touch a creation made out of black sand when Pitch reached out to stop me. "What?"

He grinned creepily. I mean, more creepily than usual. "I don't think I would be a good host it I allowed you to have nightmares for a year. And this is merely a prototype. I'm not sure what would happen, exactly." His grey-yellow eyes traced my arm, the slight muscles visible through my tensed skin. "Why don't I show you to a guest bedroom?"

My shoulders crept into a shrug, as they did so often in my life. My short, pitiful life. Abandonment, running away, almost being caught, and for what? Being shot in the eye at nineteen. Lucky me, right? "Hold on." Heat poured from my body as I set up the ultimate defense system. "Fire now blocks all the exits and entrances. _None_ of the Guardians can get in."

"What about Bunny and his tunnels?" Pitch asked, looking amazed. How about that?

"There's a layer of flames under the floor. He'd catch on fire just before popping out." I grinned, proud of my work. "And don't worry. These flames can sense who to let through. For example, they'll let you and me through."

Pitch smiled and led me to the guest bedroom. I must say, he has good taste. A little dark, but still quite impressive. The room he showed me to had an elegant four poster bed, red and black being the colors of the sheets and quilt. The floor was made of ebony, and the walls were painted an array of reds and greys and blacks. There was a small window by the top of the room, alerting me that my room was near the surface. There were a few decorative items, like a vase of red roses and a painting that I'd never seen before.

"What is that a painting of?" I asked quietly.

"I painted that quite some time ago," Pitch said, the area where his eyebrows should have been squinting together. "I'm not exactly sure who that is, but I never had the heart to get rid of it."

The painting was of a young girl with long black hair. Her skin was pale, but not like Pitch's skin. She was very pretty, even though she was just a painting.

A yawn escaped my lips as the weight of staying up for two days straight hit me. Not to mention how tiring it is to fly over an entire ocean. Seriously, you have no idea. "I'm going to bed now. Good night, Pitch." Apparently my indirect way of telling Pitch to get out worked.

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**Yay! A review! Thank you to Skylar Lewis, who I now give a digital cupcake to. And Hope is staying with Pitch. Hmm... Well, we shall just have to see how it goes. Okay, now to find a way to make my back feel better. Never work a pit beef stand with my dad. Kay BYE!**


	4. Chapter 4

_I was walking along the street, keeping a close eye on all the other people. This neighborhood was not particularly nice, from what I had gathered. Some of the local high school kids set a truck on fire not that long ago. I'm not biased against high schoolers, but those kids just weren't kind people at all._

_It was late, maybe eleven or twelve at night. The younger children had a curfew, so they were all in bed. Just a couple of drug addicts and alcoholics were sitting around. Nobody seemed to notice the girl dressed in dark clothing (see the outfit I described in earlier chapters). The smell of cigarette smoke reached my nose, causing me to gag a little. In all of my nineteen years, I had never been able to stand the smell of cigarette smoke. However, nobody looked at me._

_There was a loud click, the sound of a gun. I'd never been fond of guns, so my heartbeat increased a lot. I walked a little bit faster, trying to find a safe place. All I cared about was getting to safety, getting away from the place where I heard the gun. My head was screaming at me to run, but that would have meant instant death. No, I kept calm and continued walking like I had a reason to be there._

_Suddenly, there was a loud _BANG _as the gun went off. I turned around faster than most people could under normal circumstances. The bullet met my left eye, soaring through until it stopped somewhere beyond the eye. I fell to the ground, trying to claw out the bullet. Unfortunately, it was so deep that I couldn't reach it. So instead, I began trying to stop the bleeding._

_I'm not sure how long I sat there, hunched over and bleeding on the sidewalk. But the next thing I remembered was the ambulance lights flashing. People wearing hospital uniforms bent over me, forcing my head back so they could try to do what I'd been attempting for the past several minutes. But they had even less success than I did, and I wasn't even able to tell them what my murderer looked like._

* * *

I sat up, breathing heavily. Sweat dripped down my forehead and I quickly wiped it off. I ended up biting my lip so hard it started to bleed, which caused me to give out a tiny moan of pain. My eye felt like it had been shot again, which it kinda had been. Does it count if you get shot in your dream? Just curious.

Something warm and hard touched my hand. I felt fingers massaging the top of my hand, making little swirly motions. After a few more minutes, I opened my eyes and saw Pitch was sitting on my bed. His eyes were filled with concern.

My only concern was this:

"Did you see that?"

The tall man stood up and nodded, looking more than a little sad. I guess he didn't know how horrible a death I suffered. Fair enough, since I wasn't planning on telling anybody how I died. Well, maybe I would have told Bunny, just to make him scared and mad. That would have been hilarious, don't you think?

"Was that how...?" Pitch didn't even finish his question, obviously already knowing the answer. However, I had still had to confirm it, like it would confirm myself that I was killed.

"Yeah, that was how I was killed. Pretty scary, huh?" I said with a slight chuckle. Even Pitch seemed to find it a little bit funny, as he let out a small laugh. "I don't think I'm going back to sleep tonight. Maybe you could help me train my powers?"

Luckily for me, Pitch agreed all too eagerly. Man, it felt good to have a friend, or whatever Pitch was.

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**Now you all have details about how Hope died! Yay! Okay, not necessarily "Yay" but you get the idea. And why is Pitch being so nice? So many questions, but you are just gonna have to wait for the answers. First off, I already uploaded two chapter today. Second off, I'm not really sure what the answers are yet. Anyways, see you later.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright, why don't you start small," Pitch suggested lightly. Actually, we'd already tried starting big, but it ended up with some scorched walls. So after a few attempts, this what what we'd come to. Yup, my life has really been weird.

Nodding my head, I closed my eyes for concentration. Despite being flame-tolerant, I could feel the flames flickering off the tips of my fingers. They weren't that hot, not even close to white flames. Probably only red, _maybe_ orange. I tried to boost it up to orange, and promptly felt the flames growing hotter. Then my eyes snapped open, allowing me to see the flames as they spread up my arms.

"Very nice, Hope. You're getting better with control." The way Pitch was praising me caused a warm, fuzzy feeling to spread throughout my entire body. By the Pitch's eyes widened, I could only assume that the flames had spread throughout the rest of my body. Sweet! "You might want to slow down a little, dearie. We don't want you burning down the entire building, do we?"

My lips curled into a smile as I let the flames die back down.

Pitch grabbed my hand, which was no longer on fire. His pale hand felt cold compared to the flames which were currently surrounding my hand. "I think you're almost ready to face the Guardians. Just a few more practices and you'll be golden. I can't wait."

He guided me through the dark halls, taking me to the front entrance of his home. The sun was pouring down from what I could see. With the fire up, it was kinda hard to tell. However, it wasn't hard to make out the familiar face peering through the flames at me. His eyes were wide with shock.

"Wait here, Pitch. I gotta go take care of a pest." I walked through the fire, not even flinching. Seriously, the most it did was make me feel super warm. "I'll be back in few."

Pitch left the doorway, leaving me alone to do whatever it was I had to do. Well, he did say that I only needed a few more practices to be golden, so I guessed that I was already bronzen. Get it? Golden, bronzen? Ah, forget it.

Blue eyes glared accusingly at me. "What are you doing with Pitch? He's the bad guy!"

"Yeah, well at least Pitch never abandoned me!" I shouted. Orange flames immediately kicked up around my hand and arms. A small fireball developed in my hand, and I felt it slowly growing. "And you know what? I don't care if he's the 'bad guy' cause I don't mind bad. The 'bad guy' always treats me like a person, not something that can be tossed to the side like a piece of garbage. Unlike some Guardian I know."

Jack took a cautious step back, looking shocked at my outburst. "What do you mean? Sure, they ignored me for three hundred years, but... Who abandoned you?"

I ripped off my sunglasses, scratching the side of my face. "That is none of your business! But you should know that the Guardians aren't as nice as they seem. If you were smart, you'd leave right now."

Apparently, the winter spirit was all buddy-buddy with the Guardians now, so my screaming was upsetting to him. "The Guardians are nice. Maybe you got off on the wrong foot, but once you get to know them, they're really nice." Jack paused, looking at my eye closely for the first time. "What happened?"

Instantly, I put my sunglasses back on, feeling a slight burning sensation where the plastic touched the scratch. "None of your business. But if you want to live to see another day, you'll leave me alone," I threatened, my voice low and menacing.

"Actually, I was sent here to get you. The other Guardians would like to talk to you. And I'm not allowed back until I get you there." He smiled in a way that would probably make most girls faint, but I was not like most girls. In fact, I was not like anybody. Unless you know somebody who can control fire, has black wings, and has a gruesome eye. "So, will you come with me?"

Actually, the idea of giving the Guardians a piece of my mind was a tempting thought, but I knew better than to give into emotions running all willy-nilly. And yet, I agreed to go with him... to the North Pole... where it is freezing cold... and there isn't a good place to make a fire. Lucky for me, I didn't need a good place to make a fire. I could just become the fire. Oh yeah, FIRE BABY! Wow, this is what I've come to. Shouting "fire" at random readers.

Before I knew what I had really said, the two of us were airborne and flying to the Pole. No, I did not fall for his blue eyes or perfect smile. I just wanted to let the Guardians know what happened to me.

"Is that Hope?" a large Russian man, who I knew as North, asked.

My arms crossed in frustration. Yeah, I'd grown since the last time I'd seen him, but that was no reason for North not to remember me. I let a small groan and peered at North with my good eye. "No, it's just a girl who looks _exactly_ like Hope, sounds _exactly_ like Hope, and acts _exactly_ like Hope. Of course it's me, not like you or any of the others care."

North's large blue eyes widened in surprise at my behavior. The last time I saw North, I was about seven and didn't have an attitude like I did at that meeting. "Hope, are you feeling well? Maybe you should take off your sunglasses, ya? We are indoors."

Careful not to hit the scratch from earlier, I slid the sunglasses off. For the first few seconds, I kept my eyes closed, afraid of what the reaction would be. But I wasn't a girly-girl, so I opened my eyes and stared right at North, envying his perfect blue eyes. Not a scratch on either of them. Lucky. "This is why I wear the sunglasses. And no, it doesn't hurt me anymore. Not like any of you guys give a flying monkey butt about me." I slipped my sunglasses back on.

"Oh, well, that's an interesting choice of words. And why do you think we don't care?" He paused, staring at my sunglasses. "Bunny-"

Flame lit at my fingertips just from the mention of Bunny. "Don't ever mention Bunny again. Not around me."

Jack stepped forward, looking at me curiously. "And I thought I had issues with Bunny. What's your deal? Caused a forest fire on Easter, or something?" He chuckled slightly as I remembered hearing Bunny complain about the Blizzard of '68. "C'mon, don't be a hater."

"Listen here, Frostbite. If you'd been through the things I've been through, you would have some pent up hate, too." I bit the inside of my lips, focusing on extinguishing the fire surrounding my hands. After a few failed attempts, I managed to get it down to a tiny spark. "I should go outside. Unless you want the Pole to burn ro the ground." And guess what I did next. I ran out of the Pole and burst into flames.

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**See, she has anger towards North, too. And the next chapter should be really interesting. I mean, I haven't written it down yet, but I have the whole thing planned out. Now back to my crackers. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

The flames oozing from my body melted the snow around me, and I was glad that I had used my wings to get a few hundred feet away from the buildings. As much as I loved fire (call me a pyromaniac, if you want), I didn't love the idea of killing the innocent ones. No, I do not mean North or Jack. I mean the yetis or elves, who had no idea that they were being deceived by the Guardians supposed kindness.

Footsteps crunched through the snow, carried to me by the wind. I turned around and saw Jack running toward me. Once he saw the flames surrounding my body, he slowed down a hasty walk, but the winter spirit was still coming at me pretty fast. Oh, this would be just lovely. Fire vs. ice.

"What do you want?" I shouted over the wind. Actually, I would have shouted anyway, but the wind is as good an excuse as any. "In case you didn't notice, I can't stand any of you."

Jack's blue eyes stared at my, tracing the flames billowing around me. "Why do you hate us? Just give us a chance, would you?"

His words ripped apart my soul, his lack of knowledge fed the fire, and his innocence of the Guardians true natures caused a pain that I didn't know I had to come forward. And put all of those together, it caused me to scream and the flames turned all the way up to white. It was a good thing that Jack was standing a good ten feet away, otherwise he would have been burned to death. I knew guys like him. All talk, no walk kind of guys. Truth be told, I was sick of seeing them everywhere I went. Even when I had no normal people to talk to, one of those guys was still there waiting for me. If Jack had caught on fire, he wouldn't have gone inside. No, he would have stayed outside and tried to put it out himself.

It took half an hour, maybe forty five minutes, but I was able to get the flames to disappear. I slumped onto the ground, which was not coated in snow anymore, due to my freak out. Jack walked over and slumped down next to me. Well, might as well get him out while he still had the chance. "I gave the Guardians a chance. For ten years of my life, I thought they were my friends. And you know what they did? They left me at an orphanage."

As my words sunk into Jack's mind, his eyes grew dimmer. They were no longer lit with the excitement of someone else like him, an outcast. Now, they were fading into sadness, realization.

"But you want to know the worst part? My father was still alive, still breathing. In fact, he still is alive right now. It was his stupid idea to leave me, and look how I ended up." I took off my sunglasses to make a point. "I had to dig myself out of my grave."

Neither of us said anything. I'm not sure how long we sat there, but it was silent, awkward, and painstakingly quiet. Seriously, there was nothing romantic about sitting in absolute silence after I'd told the newest Guardians some of my secrets.

Eventually, I put my sunglasses back on and headed back to the workshop. It wasn't long before my footsteps were joined by those of the winter spirit. "I'm sorry," was all he had to say.

* * *

Jack walked inside the building first, since I was nervous at what I might find. Oh, I had snide comments for whatever they might say to me, but nothing could lessen my pain. Again, if any of you know Father Time, it would appreciated if you told him everything I've told you.

As I suspected, all the other Guardians had gathered in the Globe room. How many times had I sat in that big old recliner in the far left corner, staring at the twinkling lights? Too many times for my own good. I'd tried to find my light so many times, but I was too nervous to fly up and look for it. I didn't want to hit my wings on anything.

The moment his green eyes landed on me, Bunny stood up and took a step toward me. His fur ruffled a little in anxiety. "Hope, you're okay." His accented voice was thick with tears.

"No, I am not 'okay'. And I would show you, but I don't feel like it." I crossed the room and sat in the recliner, not caring if I was making a scene. What were they gonna do? Put me on the Naughty List? Please, I haven't gotten a single thing since I'd run away. I closed my eyes and took off my sunglasses, deciding right then and there that I would go to sleep. And I almost was asleep until...

"What do you mean, _you aren't okay_?" Bunny demanded, standing directly overtop of me.

I let out a sigh and turned my head so I would be facing him when I opened my eyes. Then, once I was facing the general direction of the famed Easter Bunny, I opened my eyes.

Shock, horror, and sadness were the predominant emotions on the Guardians' faces. Tooth looked like she was about the throw up. Sandy seemed like he wanted to wake up from a horrific dream. Even North and Jack cringed, even though they'd already seen my wound. But Bunny, he looked murderous. Don't tell the little kids I said this, but I think he was ready to kill something, or someone.

"What happened?" he shouted, rounding on Jack. "I told you to make sure she did not get hurt! And you let her get shot in the bloody eye!"

Perfect moment for a snide comment. "My eye isn't bloody anymore." Everyone looked at me for a few seconds. "I washed the blood out."

A moment of silence before Bunny turned back to Jack. "You said you would make sure nothing 'appened to her under your watch! So help me I will-"

Jack took a step forward, floating a little so he could loom over Bunny. Get your popcorn ready. "I told you I found her! And I did keep her safe while she was under my watch! That happened before I even knew she existed!" Bunny was about to say something, but the winter spirit wasn't finished. "Don't get your tail in a knot."

"Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing that," I said, getting a smirk from the winter spirit. Who knew that they Guardians could be so violent towards each other? "But he's not lying. This happened a few days before I met Jack." As I was talking, I'd begun to walk over to the Easter Bunny, cutting in front of Jack. "But you know something? This never would have happened if you hadn't abandoned me, _Daddy_."

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**Now we know why Hope hates Bunny so much. He's her father, who left her alone in an orphanage. I say no more. PEACE!**


	7. Chapter 7

The Guardians all reached forward to try to comfort me or convince me it wasn't Bunny's fault. Well, Jack just stood there, his gaze flickering between me and Bunny. His piercing blue eyes finally rested on Bunny, accusation in his eyes. I guess Bunnymund never told the newest Guardian he had a precious little daughter. Or at least liked to be _believe_ that I was his precious little daughter. Now, I just felt like he created me so he could ditch me later on.

After a few minutes, the Guardians went silent. The air in the room got a few degrees colder as Jack's anger towards Bunny and the other Guardians increased. I casually brushed back my hair, which I'd dyed to be ruby red with black highlights.

Bunny turned to face Jack, sadness creeping into his haunted gaze. Actually, I'm surprised that Jack didn't figure this all out sooner. I mean, my normal eye was the same emerald green as Bunny's eyes, so I thought it would have been obvious. Guess not. Maybe because I don't have fur.

"Well, this was a nice little reunion, but I really should be going now," I said, stretching my wings a little. I took a few steps towards the exit, but a gentle hand stopped me. Tooth's amethyst eyes begged me to stay, to try and sort through everything that had happened. Well, that didn't seem likely to happen, given Bunny's betrayal to me. My mother's death was hard on me, too, but he only cared about himself. And look where that's gotten him. "I'm not sticking around for sappy apologies that don't mean anything." Then I yanked my arm away and flew off.

Pitch was there to greet me, a warmth in his eyes that I hadn't known was possible for someone so... dark. He extended an arm towards me, which I gladly took. I was just happy to be back with someone who cared about me, someone who would take care of me. It made me feel the happiest I had in nine years.

"What happened, Hope?" the boogeyman asked, staring at me curiously.

I shrugged and gave him a brief description of everything. His face twisted when I came to the part about Bunny being my dad, but he quickly regained composure. "And then I stormed off and came back here," I finished.

We sat on my bed, not saying anything. I wasn't sure how long it took me to tell him what had happened, but he didn't seem to mind. It was just a way to pass time until night came. Naturally I knew about the cause of nightmares for the past few years, and how Pitch was growing stronger with every scared child. But I didn't really care. Nobody showed me any love or compassion until I went to Pitch, so I didn't see any reason to stop him.

A soft, warm flame flickered around my fingers as Pitch got up to leave. That was the first time I noticed how the flames around my painted fingernails were a different color than the rest of the fire. More of a purplish-grey than an orangish-red. Or would it be a reddish-orange? Whatever, it was cool.

Suddenly, Pitch stood up and walked away, not giving me any sign of where he was going. Presumably he was trying to find some little kid who was scared of his own shadow, or maybe a girl who thought snakes were slimy and that the slime was poisonous. Some of the things kids were scared of was kinda silly compared to the things _I_ was scared of. Being abandoned, guns and bullets, dark alleys, chemicals, being buried and coming back to life. You know, the usual things that come from everything I've been through.

Not wanting to bend down, I used the toe of my right shoe to kick of my left one, then used my left toes to force the right shoe off. Just some purple and black high-tops I'd come across in the middle of the street at night a few years back. Nothing really special, even now.

Should I explain to you normal people why I felt the urge to tell you about taking off my shoes? Yes, no, maybe so? Well, for those of you who truly are curious, I was making a point that I still retain my typical human laziness. And right now, I am _craving_ a McDonalds burger and milkshake. Mmm, milkshake... Nope, not drooling. Trust me, I checked.

With my shoes off and a comfy bed at my disposal, I decided to go to sleep.

* * *

**Actually, I really am craving a milkshake, but that's beside the point. And she's not saying that little kids are wimps (or that she wasn't scared of those things as a little girl). Hope's just saying that her fears are more realistic. And then there's Jack and Bunny, with yet another issue. It had to be Jack, because the other Guardians already knew about Hope and Bunny and blah blah blah. BYE!**


End file.
